I would rather fund bicycle trails.... (Austin, Columbus: apartment, neighborhood, shop)

[AguaDulce]

Originally Posted by Soviet

Could Austin possibly support a bicycle infrastructure such as Amsterdam's? Only in the winter, in my opinion; when the temperatures aren't boiling hot.

It's only bad for the ride home, after work, really.
On the way to work, in the morning? It's fine, delightful in fact.
It's okay to sweat a little. Humans do that.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by scm53

and other equally trivial issues, are priorities among the central city core ruling at present.

Yes, I'm sure the 5 minutes the council spent on this mean it's a priority equal to and above issues they spend years and millions of dollars studying.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by Novacek

Yes, I'm sure the 5 minutes the council spent on this mean it's a priority equal to and above issues they spend years and millions of dollars studying.

If you think there was no staff time, no ordinance draft, nothing more than five minutes, then you are clueless about how government works.

How about they figure out how to keep taxes from rising above the increase in median incomes? Once you get that fixed, then you have time for bread and circuses.

[austinnative69]

Originally Posted by AguaDulce

It's only bad for the ride home, after work, really.
On the way to work, in the morning? It's fine, delightful in fact.
It's okay to sweat a little. Humans do that.

It has certainly reduced my reliance on coffee to get me going in the morning.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by scm53

If you think there was no staff time, no ordinance draft, nothing more than five minutes, then you are clueless about how government works.

I am confident that it was _orders of magnitude_ less time than the thousands of staff hours drafting the budget, working on the rail plan, etc.

Originally Posted by scm53

How about they figure out how to keep taxes from rising above the increase in median incomes? Once you get that fixed, then you have time for bread and circuses.

The rest of us live in the real world where people and government can do more than 1 thing at a time.

[veloman777]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

No matter how nice bike trails were, there is no way more than a sliver of Austin would ride bikes for anything other than fitness or recreation.

It is too hot.
It is too hilly.
People are not fit enough.
Bikes are too slow.

Scooters are more viable. 70 MPG, quick enough, and can cover a reasonable distance.

We have electric assist bikes now. With one, it would remove the 4 reasons you just stated.

I have built my own ebikes and use as transportation. It is a total game changer. I agree that pedaling 10 miles across town on a regular bike in the summer is a tall order to ask for commuters.

Scooters can't legally use bike lanes to get past congestion either. I have an electric motorcycle which I converted, that I recently started using. Got stuck on the Drag last week, that sucked. It'd be cool if they let small motorcycles/scooters use bike lanes to get past congestion, at 15-20mph limit. Sort of like lane splitting which is legal in CA.

Honestly, it's more uncomfortable for me to get into a car that's been sitting in the sun, and sweat until the AC cools it down which takes about 5-10mins. Instead, i get on my ebike and throttle up to 20mph or so and aside from sitting in the sun at a red light, it's really quite comfortable. I coast if it's really hot or I don't want to pedal. But I like to pedal a bit, feels good to get some exercise. But the motor is great, it's just so quiet and feels like a magic carpet. I think the main thing holding ebikes back is the higher upfront cost relative to a bicycle. It the long run, it can easily be cheaper if it means you don't need to consume an additional 800 calories a day pedaling full effort. Food is expensive energy, in most cases.

The other thing is back on topic - we need continuous bike paths, separated from autos, and with very limited stops to make it efficient and fast. It's seriously an adventure going N-S through central Austin on secondary roads which are 'bike friendly". IE - not efficient or fast due to 20-40 stop signs and lights.

Support the Urban Trails Master plan! http://www.austintexas.gov/yourpath

Tell council we want this!

[veloman777]

Austin only needs 140 million for bike infrastructure to make biking a viable option
Four simple lessons from Austin’s brilliant bike plan update | PeopleForBikes

[LiveUrban]

Originally Posted by veloman777

Austin only needs 140 million for bike infrastructure to make biking a viable option
Four simple lessons from Austin’s brilliant bike plan update | PeopleForBikes

We need to get on this and invest! I would bike so much more if we had separated paths/protected bike lanes everywhere so you don’t have to mix with cars.

[Roadking2003]

Originally Posted by veloman777

Austin only needs 140 million for bike infrastructure to make biking a viable option
Four simple lessons from Austin’s brilliant bike plan update | PeopleForBikes

But the Austin City Council is fixated on rail. Their first phase is $1.4 billion, then it goes up forever. Why? Because they want to brag that Austin is a modern city and has rail and of course some well connected elites will reap huge profits. Meanwhile, a cheaper and better solution would be $140 million for bike infrastructure.

[je4xff]

Originally Posted by LiveUrban

We need to get on this and invest! I would bike so much more if we had separated paths/protected bike lanes everywhere so you don’t have to mix with cars.

They recently completed "re-striping" of the bike lanes on Mesa Drive. There used to be 4 lanes of traffic with bicycle lanes in each direction. And after re-striping the bike lanes, we have a result of something straight out the movie Idiocracy. Now there are still 2 bike lanes, but only 2 lanes for cars. And when all the Anderson High kids are leaving and arriving, guess what? It becomes a complete cluster-f#$k with half the capacity for cars pouring in and out of the area. Way to go city geniuses - it went from bad to worse.